An ad hoc committee set up by the Nigerian senate to investigate the scale of oil theft across the country reported that Nigeria lost $2 billion to oil theft in eight months.
The committee which submitted its report on Tuesday noted that the period was between January to August 2022.
According to the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, Senator Albert Bassey Akpan, the scale of oil theft going on in the Niger Delta region is hurting the country’s economy.
“Oil theft wrecked the country’s oil production capacity and had resulted in the loss of about $2bn this year alone,” he said.
The Akwa Ibom state-born lawmaker added that major export facilities, the Bonny and Forcados Terminals, were shut down for over seven months due to pipeline vandalism and oil theft.
Investors King earlier reported that oil theft in the Niger Delta region dropped the country’s oil production capacity below the one million mark in August 2022.
This made Nigeria relinquish its prestigious pride as Africa’s largest oil producer.
At the moment, while Angola has replaced Nigeria as Africa’s largest oil producer, Nigeria trails Angola, Libya and Algeria to the fourth position.
While making his presentation at the flow of the senate, Senator Akpan recommends that curtailing crude oil theft in Nigeria should be a collective responsibility.
“Well-meaning members of the public must be encouraged to report illegal activities and transactions in stolen crude oil that may come to their knowledge from any part of the country,” he said.
He added that Nigeria should seek the collaboration of the international community to check the “illegal letter of credit” used to fund the sale and purchase of Nigerian stolen crude.
He argued that there is no way such level of transactions could be conducted without the knowledge of the world financial system.
Additionally, he commended the efforts of the joint task force which include the army, navy and civilian security network to curb oil theft in Nigeria.